How do I remove app from purchased list? Never want to use it again.

At the moment you can't - you're not the first person to want to do it though, so maybe we'll eventually be able to delete (or at least hide) apps : http://www.apple.com/feedback/

You cannot delete the app from the purchased list. It is an option at this time and may never be an option. It doesn't matter if you ever want to use it again. It is simply a list of all of your purchased Apps. Think of it as a legal record between you and Apple for all of the Apps that you have purchased which in fact it is. Apple has provided it as a helpful resource for those who may have forgotten about an app that was purchased in the past and may want to be downloaded again.

If you are concerned about keeping your purchased apps private - all you have to do is sign out of your iTunes account and the apps are not viewable until you sign in again - you know - just like you do with an email account that you don't want anyone else to see.

You can hide them - sign out of your iTunes account!

Not ideal though. It doesn't bother me too much as the history is not something that I'll be using everyday, but I've downloaded a few (free) apps so as to try and help people on here - so I've got apps in my list which I have no interest in and wouldn't normally have downloaded, so it would be nice to be able to 'tidy up' the list by deleting some, or just be able to move some to a hidden list so that they don't appear in amongst the ones that I'm still interested in.

KP .... I get your point of view. In your case - makes sense. I've read a bunch of these threads in the past couple of weeks and more often than not - at least IMHO - the users want no record of the app due to the app in question being "offensive, objectionable, adult" or something like that they would sooner forget about.

This maybe a bit over dramatic .... but you can't take back your mistakes in life - trust me I know since I've made thousands - nor can you undo the past. But like I said - you can hide them sometimes .... in this case - sign out of the account.

One point that most people fail to think about is that these app purchases are a legal record between Apple and the app buyer and that they cannot be destroyed no matter what the end user desires or wishes. That is in effect what the end user wants to do.

However, I do understand the fact that it is none of anybody else's business. But - that is why you can hide the purchased app history by signing out of the account.

Again Demo, you keep stating that this is not a big deal. Apparently this issue is a huge concern for a lot of people. Signing off sounds simple right, not. For those of us who have shared accounts (families), your method doesn't help. Just as our home phones have a delete option for previous calls. The app store should have the same. Apple can keep what ever record they want, but if the purchaser chooses to delete an app from their owner account; they should be able to.

james taylor 8185 wrote:

Again Demo, you keep stating that this is not a big deal.

It's not a big deal to me. I have nothing to hide.

Apparently this issue is a huge concern for a lot of people.

Yes it certainly seems to be.

Signing off sounds simple right, not. For those of us who have shared accounts (families), your method doesn't help.

I share my iTunes account with my wife and daughter and none of us has anything to hide. If you share the same account with your family members - you have all had access to the purchase history all along anyway. Apple only put the ability on the iOS devices themselves recently but the ability to access the information has always been there in iTunes on your computer.

Just as our home phones have a delete option for previous calls.

It's a phone call - not a record of sale. Two totally different things no matter what you think. I own a small business and I cannot delete the record of a sale because a customer wants me to do so. That was a legal and binding sale and you just cannot delete record of it.

Apple can keep what ever record they want, but if the purchaser chooses to delete an app from their owner account; they should be able to.

If the user wants to delete the purchased history itself from the device - and does not want that option on the device - I have absolutely no problem with that. But they can't delete the record of the purchase.

The bottom line really is that people want to change the past. They want no reminders of a risque book or video that they purchased. Or maybe a little kiddie app that someone wanted to try and now they are afraid that their buddies will razz the he*l out of them if they find out. You can't change the past. You did what you did and you bought what you bought. Who hasn't made a mistake in life that they would like to wipe out of their memory and remove from the past? We all have. ...Sorry - can't be done. This isn't the Wizard of Oz after all.

However - that does not mean that Apple could not offer users the option to not show the purchased history on their devices. again - this I understand.

Apple thought that they were providing a valuable service to their customers by implementing this feature on iDevices. And for months I've heard the crying from all of the jerks that lost their iTunes libraries - through no fault of Apple's - and they cried because Apple's policy was one download only for music and if you lost it you had to buy it again - and now Apple has given those same users the ability to retrieve all of their lost music without having to pay for it again - and the crying and whining continues. Apple just can't win.

Oh and did I mention that you can sign out of your iTunes account, - you know like you do with your email account - you sign out - or take the iPad away from your kid - or set up separate accounts. Nobody ever remembers that the iPad really was intended to be a single user device for one person to use as an adjunct to their PC or Mac.

The purchaser should still have the option of choosing what is visible on there devices and in the accounts. Again, apple should keep records of all purchases. If the user wants records they cand be requested. iPad or iPhone, doesn't matter, when you have kids and they play games on the devices you own. And can download new games. My risque or adult content is prvt......

james taylor 8185 wrote:

The purchaser should still have the option of choosing what is visible on there devices

My goodness man, I am AGREEING with you on this point. Apple should and maybe will find a way to make this optional. I am stating that in the bold letters in my post above. I truly hope that for all users that want to see this feature go away - that it does go away - It should be optional - so that the users that want to keep the feature can do so - at their option and choice.

My risque or adult content is prvt......

And again, I could not agree more.

Hey Demo,

Just reading through a number of discussions on this, and you seem to be commenting in many of them, with a fairly set view point. Problem is, your logic is faulty in the defense of the current status quo (yes, Apple has to keep a history of a sale, but removing particular app from a list doesn't delete the record of sale). Your arguments are also quite judgemental - "my wife and I share an account, and we have nothing to hide" - well good for you, but other people may want to hide things - from spouses, young children. And your assumption that everyone is just a whiner and that "you can't take things back in life" is also quite harsh and unnecessary.

I can think of several strong valid reasons why this feature could benefit all of us, and possibly even yourself. I can also think of several easy ways for Apple to implement this, and have encouraged them to do so.

1. privacy: I can see many people having downloaded apps or books with potentially racy content might not want a spouse or young child to see. I doubt any of them are that worried about it - the iTunes store doesn't offer anything XXX, so it shouldn't be too embarrassing to people. But everyone's relationship is different, and we should respect that. Your suggestion to just "sign out of the account" is not a good one in any light for most people - I use a Mobile Me account, so my email is tied to that, things like find my iPhone are tied to that, updates to our other frequently used apps are tied to that - which may include critical security updates or whatever. And the cloud download is useful as well - no one is arguing it's not - but not the entire list.
2. tidiness - this is more important to me, and I think a bigger issue for most people. In my case I've played a bunch of time waster games (like World War by Storm 8). They had tricks in their model to encourage people to download a slightly newer version, which bumped them up in popularity. They would offer in game rewards to download other games of theirs, etc. The result is I have dozens of downloads of their games, none of which I played or will play. We all have free, crappy apps we download, use once, delete, and don't care about (iFart anyone?). It is simply a much better user experience to be able to delete or simply permenantly hide these from the list, so when we browse the cloud we see only apps we like - and as we extend out our iOS addiction, buying an iPad to complement our iPhone, buying an iPod for jogging, etc - we can easily synch the apps we use frequently and that we like.

Anyhow, not a big debate issue - just thought you seemed to be a bit too strongly opposed to this. Adding a hide button to clean it up would technically be pretty easy and do nothing to the purchase history record that you seem worried about.

If its not a big debate issue, why do you care how I feel about it?

Umm, why do care how everyone else feels about it?

It's a real problem, could be easily solved, yet you are stridently objecting to everyone posting on the issue, calling them"whiners" in your last post. I think it's a bit counterproductive to people looking for answers.

Obviously users have privacy concerns, and so do I. That's why I log out of my email account, log out of my online bank statement, log out of my online credit card statement and log out of my iTunes account if I am finished using them for the time being. That way - nobody else has access to my private stuff.

As to the "whining comment" I make no apologies. I have participated on this site for a few months now - really ever since I bought my iPad and I came here looking for some direction. I have found that so many people want it both ways in this regard. Let me explain.

Users would scream and whine - yes whine - about not being able to re download music that they had lost through their own mistakes. Like it's Apple's fault that they had no backups - or the computer crashed - whatever. Their reasoning for this "right" to download again was based on the fact that they had already paid for it once. It didn't matter that when they agreed to the terms and conditions of the use of the iTunes Store that it stated that purchased music and videos were a one shot deal - if you lose it - you pay for it again. But I always reasoned this way - If you buy a CD at a music store and you lose it on the way home, would you expect the store to replace it for you because you had already paid for it? Hardly.

Now to the point ... Apple has now changed the no free download policy and allows users to have the convenience of seeing their purchased music and apps in the iTunes App and the App Store app and those same people are whining about not being able to delete purchased apps or music from the list. Makes absolutely no sense to me - sorry - never will.

You are entitled to your opinion and you are entitled to think that I am a crotchety old man who is stuck in his ways and can't be objective enough to carry on a reasonable discussion about this issue. You can think I am totally wrong - and once again I will concede the fact that maybe I am and maybe my argument makes no sense at all.

I do not object to people posting on this issue but it would be better served in a discussion thread and not in the technical question thread. Your points make sense to me and I do respect your opinion. Your points are well thought out and stated intelligently. I have posted in about 6 or 7 of these discussions quite frankly, most of the posts that I read - IMO - indicated to me that the poster had something to hide. Acouple even admitted as much if I recall correctly.

There are no answers to be found here since we are all just other users and not Apple employees. All we can do is debate the issue and that solves nothing with regard to implementing change. You do know that you and every other user that objects to this feature can send feedback to Apple and let you voice be heard right here.

http://www.apple.com/feedback/ipad.html

Happy iPadding!

Nope, don't think you're a crotchety old man - hard to tell on the Internet anyways. I agree with your point about the music - I've seen the same complaints and had the same thought as you. Everyone has to take some responsibility (which was also a point you were making earlier re the current issue).

I think the new service is fantastic, and a lot of people in my office have been raving about it - so kudos to apple for adding it in. Now they just need to tweak it to make it that little bit better. I was going to say "and everyone will be happy", but that's a bit too optimistic I think.

Happy ipadding back.